Quick Chek Proposal Faces Further Opposition

Resistance grew even further on Thursday night against the proposed Quick Chek that, if built, would be located on Route 23 North between Boonton and Bartholdi Avenues in the Borough of Butler.

Hal Simoff, a traffic expert testifying before the borough Planning Board on behalf of attorney David Dixon and his clients, provided evidence that he believes supports the case against the proposed convenience store, which would also feature 12 gas pumps in a 1.2 acre space.

“What you do when you design a site is you design to fit the volume, you design to fit the stacking, and you accommodate that,” said Simoff. “This site can’t do that.”

Simoff compared the proposed site for the new convenience store with similar Quick Chek locations in Ramsey and Hazlet. Simoff noted that each of those locations is substantially larger and can handle more traffic without clogging up nearby state highways; the lot where the Ramsey Quick Chek along state route 17 is located is 1.6 acres in size, while the Hazlet location is 2.2 acres.

Simoff contested that the volume of automobiles on the site could cause traffic backups on Route 23. Simoff estimates through Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) calculations that 438 vehicles, in total, would enter and exit the property at the peak of rush hour. This would create congestion issues on this particular section of Route 23, which sees approximately 4,000 vehicles during peak hours, when cars would attempt to exit and re-enter the highway.

Complicating this issue further would be the traffic light cycle near the site, which lasts for 150 seconds. According to Simoff, the light allowing thru traffic on Route 23 stays red for approximately 60 seconds per cycle. Since the proposed site for the convenience store is so close to the intersection between Route 23 and Boonton Avenue, both the exit and entrance to the Quick Chek parking lot would be blocked for that time due to cars stopped at the traffic light.

“The light turns red for northbound traffic, and traffic starts backing up past Bartholdi Avenue,” said Simoff. “Then, the curb lane backs up, which would block the exit driveway, which would be blocked for one third of the time of the (150-second) cycle.”

Another problem with the proposed site, according to Simoff, is the lack of space between the beginning of the gas pump islands and the property line leading to Route 23. While the similar sites in Ramsey and Hazlet have 250 feet of space between those areas, allowing for a queue of twenty to thirty vehicles waiting for gas, the proposed Butler site would only have 70 feet of such space.

This would only allow for six to eight vehicles to line up waiting for gas, which could be a problem, considering the estimated traffic the gas pumps could handle. Simoff estimated that, at most, the site’s twelve proposed gas pumps could handle only 144 customers per hour, under the assumption that service to each vehicle takes five minutes. If diesel pumps are included on the site, that number could be reduced further.

“The only diesel car I’m aware of being produced in America is the Volkswagen Golf TDI,” said Planning Board member Warren Frerichs. “That’s a significant drop in capacity.”

“I can look at it and I can see that what’s there doesn’t work,” added Simoff. “They probably need another 100 feet in depth.”

The Quick Chek application, which has been an active topic of discussion at borough Planning Board meetings for virtually all of 2011, still may not be concluded upon for months. Board Attorney John Babarula estimated that it could possibly take until May for a conclusion to be reached.

Either way, the board will try to move the application further along at its next meeting on December 15.

“We’ve still got a long way to go,” said Planning Board Chairman James Nargiso.